‘It’s easy to be positive when you are living a boyhood fantasy’
Joe Root had a simple response yesterday when asked how he keeps his spirits up with a marquee Test series against India and perhaps even his captaincy future on the line.
‘I’m playing for england,’ he said, boyish enthusiasm still just about intact. ‘I’m playing Test cricket. It’s easy to stay positive because I’m living my boyhood dream.
‘When I was ten, I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do and I remind myself of that if we are having a bad day or when things are not going our way.’
How Root needs that positivity going into the third Test on his home ground of Headingley tomorrow after the horror show of day five of a tumultuous second game at Lord’s left his england side one down with three to play.
It is now or probably never against Virat Kohli’s aggressive, bristling but, above all, highly potent India side. england, bereft of many of their best players and with red-ball preparation as scarce as the sight of sun in August, are on the ropes.
At the centre of it all is an england captain again nudging greatness as a player but struggling for any sort of batting support and with problems piling up, the latest being the withdrawal yesterday of Mark Wood with the shoulder injury he suffered at Lord’s.
‘I’m not going to lie, the last year and a half has been very difficult,’ said a skipper now in the traditional danger area of four and a half years in charge. ‘But it’s really important not to drag what happened at Lord’s into this Test.
‘You can beat yourself up for hours about things you could have done differently but, ultimately, it doesn’t guarantee anything.
‘Look at the last Test we played on this ground. I’m sure Tim Paine would have done things a bit differently given another opportunity. You have to take it on the chin, draw a line and have a clear head going into the next game.’
Mention of that Headingley classic two years ago was both a welcome reminder of Australian misery and a sad one about absent friends.
Ben Stokes, who pulled off that Leeds miracle almost singlehandedly, is still missing and Root confirmed yesterday he wouldn’t be bothering his talisman any time soon.
Now Wood can be added to a list of missing bowlers that includes Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and olly Stone.
‘It’s frustrating for Mark and us,’ said Root. ‘I thought he bowled really well at Lord’s.
‘He gives us a real point of difference with his pace and has been in good fettle. It’s something we will just have to deal with and it gives an opportunity to someone else.’
The most like-for-like replacement for Wood would be the exciting newcomer Saqib Mahmood — and Root did big up a bowler whose attributes of distinctly sharp pace and the ability to gain reverse swing could be perfect for what is expected to be a flat pitch.
But the indications in training yesterday seemed to suggest Craig overton is favourite to get the nod ahead of Mahmood, with Sam Curran looking certain to retain his place despite two largely ineffective Tests in this series. one player sure to feature is Dawid Malan, back after a threeyear Test absence and set to bat at three, with coach Chris Silverwood having pulled the plug on Zak Crawley and now Dom Sibley in the top order after investing so much time in the pair.
‘Dawid will give us a lot of experience,’ said Root. ‘Not necessarily in the Test game but he has played a lot of international cricket.
‘He played in a massive series in Australia and was our leading run-scorer there. We know he’s capable of big things in Test cricket.’